Obviously this changed everything. Sure, I dug Brynn. She was cute, she was fun to hang out with, and she was an awesome way to spend the down-time in the mansion. But I wasn’t about to propose or anything. If Frank was really falling for her, there was only one thing to do.
I smacked him on the shoulder. “It’s okay, bro. I’m the one who’s gonna back off.” I grinned at him. “But only if you swear not to chicken out on this! You gotta tell her how you feel.”
“What?” He looked alarmed. “Uh, I don’t think so.”
“Come on, man! She likes you, too. Just do that Mr. Good Guy honest thing you do, and she’ll be all over you.”
He shook his head and kicked at the grass. “What’s the point? I can’t be honest with her even if I wanted to. Undercover, remember? She doesn’t even know my real name. And she’s such an honest person herself, she’d never understand.…” He shook his head, looking pained. “Anyway, we shouldn’t be wasting time on this. We’re here to work, remember?”
He sounded kind of bummed out. Not to mention way uncomfortable with the whole Brynn line of conversation. I decided to take pity on him and let him change the subject.
“Okay,” I said. “So what do you think of Ripley’s big announcement?”
He looked relieved. “Interesting,” he replied. “I don’t think it lets her off the hook, though. She could be covering her own tracks by claiming to know who it is.”
“You’re right. Should we try to question her?”
“Definitely. But not right now—I passed her on my way out and she was just heading into the bathroom to take a shower.”
I nodded. “If she does actually know who’s been doing the stuff, who do you think it could be? Gail?”
“That would make sense. They’re roommates. And they don’t get along very well. Should we go talk to her while we’re waiting for Ripley to get out of the shower?”
“Exactly what I was going to suggest.” I grinned at him, suddenly very glad that we’d cleared the air about the Brynn thing. I hadn’t realized until that moment just how tense things had been between us the past few days.
“Let’s just go over the facts one more time before we head in.” Frank had that look on his face that said his mind was clicking along at a million miles per hour. “One thing bothers me about Gail and Ripley as suspects. Is either of them physically capable of some of the stuff we’re talking about? Like knocking over the woodpile—or knocking out Sylvia, if that turns out to be connected?”
I shrugged, a little impatient. Frank is always looking to dot all our i’s and cross our t’s. I’m more of an immediate-action kind of guy.
“We already talked about that,” I reminded him. “Ripley’s thin, but she’s fit. She’s mentioned a few times having a personal trainer back home. And Gail is no lightweight; I think she’s got bigger guns than I do.”
“Okay,” said Frank. “So we think most of the guys and the fitter, stronger girls are capable of that stuff? Say, everyone except maybe Hal, Brynn, Ann, Olivia, and Mary?”
“Well, I’d say Olivia and Hal are marginal, but—oh!” Suddenly I remembered something. “We can probably cross Mary off the weaklings list too.”
“What do you mean? She’s the smallest person here.”
“I know. But maybe not the weakest…” I told him about seeing her doing yoga in her room. “So she’s obviously not as feeble as we thought.”
“Interesting.” Frank looked thoughtful. “So quiet little Mary isn’t what she seems. It could be strategy—and if so, that shows she’s a lot more competitive than we’ve been assuming. Maybe even competitive enough to try to scare other people away?”
I couldn’t help being dubious. “I guess anything’s possible. Maybe we should think about her more if Ripley and Gail don’t pan out.”
“Agreed.” Frank nodded. “For now, let’s see if we can find Gail.”
She wasn’t in the kitchen, Deprivation Chamber, or great room. And her bedroom was deserted. The sound of the running shower came faintly from the direction of the girls’ bathroom.
“How can Ripley stand that cold water for so long?” The closest bed was rumpled, the covers mounded up in the middle. I flopped down on it, figuring whoever it belonged to wouldn’t mind—if she even noticed I’d been there. “You don’t think secret hot water was part of her deal with the producers too, do you?”
Frank didn’t seem to be listening. He stepped over to one of the dressers. “You know, maybe we should take a look around,” he said, sliding open one of the drawers. “Considering a couple of our prime suspects are staying in this room.”
“Good plan. I—Ow!” I cried as a sudden jab sent a spurt of fire through my thigh.
Frank glanced over. “What’s the matter?”
I flipped back the covers—and froze. A large snake was staring back at me. Its tail flicked, and I heard an ominous rattling sound.
Under the Radar
“Get back, Joe!” I shouted. Grabbing a large bath towel off the dresser, I flung it over the snake. It hissed and rattled angrily. But the towel disabled it long enough for Joe to roll off the bed, clutching his leg.
I sprang for the intercom on the wall. “Medic!” I shouted into it. “We have a snakebite situation on the second floor. Hurry!”
The snake was slithering out from under the towel by now. I grabbed a plastic wastebasket and slammed it down, trapping it. Its tail thudded furiously against the inside.
Joe was writhing on the floor in pain. “Don’t just stand there!” he choked out. “Someone put that thing here! If you hurry…”
I hesitated. He was right—whoever had planted that snake couldn’t have gotten far. But I didn’t want to leave Joe. Not to mention the fact that I wasn’t about to let go of that wastebasket…
At that moment Ripley appeared in the doorway, wrapped in a towel. “Hey,” she said. “What are you guys doing in here?” She blinked at Joe. “And what’s with him? Is he having a seizure?”
“She can hold it,” Joe gasped out. “Go! Before it’s too late!”
In the distance, I could hear shouts—that had to be the medics. “Come over here,” I told Ripley. “Hold this wastebasket right where it is—don’t let go.”
I guess I sounded like I knew what I was doing, because she obeyed.
“Why can’t I let go?” she asked.
I was already racing for the door. “If you do, the snake will get loose,” I called back over my shoulder.
She let out a shriek. “Snake?”
I didn’t stick around to explain. Joe would have to handle that.
Sprinting down the hallway, I checked out the nearby rooms. All empty. Downstairs, I was just in time to see Gail and Olivia coming out of the Deprivation Chamber. Veronica was standing outside watching them.
Deciding that made them poor suspects for the snake thing, I kept going. I was heading for the kitchen when I happened to glance out through the back door. Someone was out there.
Veering that way, I burst outside to find Mary peeling off a pair of heavy leather gloves. She looked startled by my sudden arrival.
“Mary,” I blurted out in surprise. “So it’s true—you really can handle a rattler!”
I know, I know. That was stupid. She knew right away that I was onto her. Tossing the gloves aside, she sprinted across the yard.
It turned out she wasn’t just stronger than she looked. She was faster, too. Even dressed in one of her frumpy long skirts. I chased her, but she kept ahead of me all the way across the yard and through the rocky, scrubby area beyond.
She was heading straight for the edge of the biggest ravine. And she wasn’t slowing down. That gave me the extra burst of speed I needed. I tackled her just a few feet from the drop-off.
“No!” she screamed. “Let me go! I didn’t do anything.”
I guess all the action and shouting had attracted attention. James and the new kid, George, came running up behind us.
“What’s going on?”
James exclaimed. “Frank, dude, if that’s how you always try to get girls…”
“Shut up,” I told him. It wasn’t easy holding on to Mary. She was wriggling like a cat. A cat with sharp claws. I winced as her fingernails scraped my arm. “It’s been Mary all along. She’s the one who did all that stuff—now help me get her back to the house.”
SUSPECT PROFILE
Name: Mary Moore
Hometown: Rural Georgia
Physical description: 5’2”, 105 165., brown hair, brown eyes. Drab, old-fashioned, modest dress.
Occupation: Home-schooled student.
Background: The oldest of five kids from a poor family. Not many other details known.
Suspicious behavior: Flew so far under the radar she was practically invisible.
Suspected of: Everything that Mitch didn’t do.
Possible motive: One million dollars.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Brynn asked anxiously.
Joe nodded. “I’ll be fine,” he told her. Shooting me a sly look, he added, “Thanks to my incredibly brave brother, that is. He’s quite a guy, isn’t he?”
I felt my face go red. Subtle, Joe. Real subtle.
Brynn hurried over and squeezed my arm. “He sure is,” she said. “You are brave, Frank. Smart, too. Who could’ve guessed sweet little Mary was behind all the trouble all along?”
Who indeed. My gaze wandered toward Mary. She was standing near the fireplace a few yards away, sort of slumped and defeated-looking. She was handcuffed, and the cops were talking to Veronica and some of the producers nearby.
“I still don’t understand,” Olivia complained. Things had been chaotic for a while. But by now, everyone in the house was clustered in the great room watching the proceedings. “So if Mary confessed to the snake and all that other stuff, then who pushed her down that night?”
“Nobody,” I replied. “She made up that whole story about seeing the little girl, and she just rolled in the mud to make it believable.” That wasn’t all she’d confessed to. Once she’d realized she was busted, Mary had also admitted to sending those threatening letters and e-mails, planting that dead bird, writing on Ripley’s face and on the bathroom floor, and pushing over the woodpile on me. Joe and I hadn’t been able to hear all of it—Veronica and the cops kept chasing us away.
“What a freak,” Gail declared loudly, glaring over at Mary. “So does this mean she killed that PA woman, too?”
At that, Mary’s head snapped up. Guess she’d been listening.
“I didn’t kill anybody, I swear!” she cried. “She just died. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. I just wanted to—to win.”
“So you’re saying you didn’t have anything to do with Sylvia ending up in that barrel?” Olivia challenged.
Mary blinked rapidly. She glanced around at all of us, looking like a trapped animal. Then she let out a wail that made us all jump in surprise.
“But I’m telling you, I didn’t kill her!” she cried. “I—I just knocked her over the head with a piece of wood. Not even that hard.”
“She could be telling the truth,” Hal spoke up. “The stress of getting knocked out and everything might’ve brought on the aneurysm. And that Sylvia had all sorts of risk factors going on—smoking, high-stress job, tense personality…” At everyone’s looks of surprise, he shrugged. “I’ve been researching which medical conditions might be the leading causes of death on L-62.”
“Anyway, I only did it because she was about to catch me in the supply room when I was going to switch out all the salt and sugar.” Mary bit her lip so hard I was afraid she’d draw blood. Her moment of drama had passed, and she was back to looking defeated again. “I knew she’d tell everyone she saw me down there.”
“Switching salt and sugar?” Olivia sounded skeptical. “Okay, so how do you go from lame pranks like that to trying to kill Joe with a rattlesnake?”
Mary stared down at the floor. “I panicked then, too,” she admitted. “The snake was meant to scare Ripley. I thought she was about to tattle on me.”
“Oh my God.” Ripley rolled her eyes. “I was totally bluffing! I had no clue who did any of that stuff.”
“Just goes to show, princess, it doesn’t pay to lie. Not even for rich girls,” James said with a snort. Then he glared at Mary. “But hey, Miss I-Didn’t-Want-to-Hurt-Anyone, what about that freaking ice trick of yours? That could’ve killed someone—namely, me!”
“And what about those knives that cut Brynn?” Ripley added. “Or the fire in Bobby’s room?”
Mary shook her head vigorously. “I didn’t have anything to do with any of that!” By now, tears were flowing freely down her cheeks. “I swear!”
It was tough not to be skeptical. Mary hadn’t exactly shown herself to be trustworthy. Judging by the looks on the faces around me, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. At the same time, I had a nagging feeling—something didn’t feel quite right to me about Mary having been behind all of this. She was clearly unbalanced, and got scared easily. But was she capable of premeditated violent acts? After all, why would Mary confess to some, but not all of the acts if she was, in fact, responsible for all of them? Or were Joe and I still missing something here?
“Come along, miss.” A police officer appeared and took Mary by the arm. “Let’s get you down to the station. Your parents will be flying in as soon as possible.”
As soon as Mary and the police were gone, everyone else went back to buzzing about what had happened. A few people wandered away to the bathroom or wherever. Meanwhile Joe and I drifted off to a private corner of the great room.
“So what do you think?” Joe murmured, glancing around to make sure we wouldn’t be overheard by the others. Neither of us was too concerned about the cameras at the moment—I seriously doubted the producers were going to be airing any of today’s events. “If my math is right, there’s still some voluntary dropout money left. Twenty grand to the next guy who leaves, and ten K after that. That’s thirty large between the two of us.”
“You know we can’t take that money,” I said automatically. But I couldn’t help being startled at the thought of leaving the house. Maybe it was that unsettled feeling, like there was still something bigger going on here that we hadn’t figured out. Or maybe… My gaze wandered to Brynn, who was talking to Hal and George over near the door. She caught me looking and smiled, giving me a little wave.
I smiled back weakly. “Um, I don’t know,” I told Joe. “We thought we had this thing solved once before, remember? Maybe we should stick around—just in case.”
Joe groaned. “You gotta be kidding,” he said. “Aren’t you feeling kind of—you know—deprived by now? No TV, no hot water…” Suddenly his voice trailed off and he grinned. He’d just followed my gaze. “Oh! I get it. Maybe you’re not feeling so deprived after all.”
My face went hot. Before I could answer, we both heard a shriek from just outside the room. A second later Georgina came running in. I hadn’t even noticed she’d left, so she couldn’t have been gone for long.
“I was just in that Deprivation Chamber thingy!” she blurted out. “You guys have got to see this!”
A moment later everyone was crowding into the small pod. Joe and I pushed our way to the front. When I saw the words scrawled on the chamber wall, my heart sank. In large, childish handwriting, someone had written: HOUSE OF DEATH.
“That wasn’t there a few minutes ago,” Olivia said, her voice shaking. “Gail and I were just in there!”
She was right. I realized I’d seen them emerging just before I’d spotted Mary outside. That meant there was no way Mary could have written it.
Joe leaned toward me. “Case open?” he murmured in my ear.
I nodded grimly. “Again.”
book with friends
House Arrest Page 10
